How our beds are dirtier than chimpanzee nests

A new study has revealed that a third of the bacteria in our beds is from our own bodies and may be causing health problems – while chimps’ nests are almost spotless

Your lily-white bed linen may, in fact, be less hygienic than the nest of an animal known for throwing its own poo around. According to a new study by researchers from North Carolina State University, chimpanzees have cleaner sleeping arrangements than humans – and that may be precisely because we insist on using the same sheets over and over.

More than a third of the bacteria found in human beds is from our own bodies, be it skin, oral or fecal. PhD student Megan Thoemmes, the lead author of the paper, which was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, said she and her colleagues “wanted to know how this compares with some of our closest evolutionary relatives”.